System of electrically lighting railway-carriages.



No. 682,978. Patented Sept. l7, l90l. E. DICK.

SYSTEI 0F ELECTRICALLY LIGHTING RAILWAY CABRIAGES (Application filed an25, 1899.) D 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 682,978. Patented Sept. l7, l90l. E. DICK. SYSTEI 0F ELECTRICALLYLIGHTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES.

Applicntion Med Feb. 95. 1899.)

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No. 682,978. Patented Sept. l7, l90l. E. DICK.

SYSTEI 0F ELEGTRICALLY LIGHTING RAILWAY CARRIAGES.

(Application filed Feb. 2a, 1999. (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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No. 682.978. Patented Sept. l7, I90l.

E. DICK. SYSTEI 0F ELECTRICALLY LIGHTING RAILWAY CARBIAGES.

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EMIL DICK, OF BADEN, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

SYSTEM OF ELECTRICALLY LIGHTING RAILWAY-CARRIAGES;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,978, datedSeptember 17, 1901. Application filed February 25, 1899. Serial No.706,835. (No model.)

To CLZZ whom it may concern: adapted to rotate. To the perforated arma-Be it known that I, EMIL DICK, electrical turef is coupled thedouble-armed lever f engineer, a citizen of the Republic of Switl to theends of which are articulated the drawzerland, residing in Baden,Austria-Hungary, rods f f. Each of these rods carries a crosshaveinvented certain new and useful Im- 1 piece, to which are secured,respectively, two provements in the System of Electrically insulatedcontact-pins f f and f f The Lighting Railway-Carriages, as described incontact-pinf and its quicksilver-cup d are my application Serial No.678,168, filed April not seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The two front pins19,1898, of which the following is a specificaf and f are conductivelyconnected together tion. by means of the flexible copper band h and Thisinvention relates to improvements in the back pins f and f by the bandcl. The that system of electrically lighting railwaypins f f f f dipeach into an iron quicksilver-receptacle h d 712 d In order to guidecarriages wherein a dynamo and secondary batteries are employed, such asdescribed in the said pins and prevent the quicksilver bemy application,Serial No. 678,168, filed April ing thrown out, each of the saidreceptacles 19, 1898. is furnished with an insulated cover. The

The object of the invention is to generally connecting-rod f carriesthrough the spring improve the construction and operation of 4.0 acontact-roller 10, which is furnished with such systems; and with thisobject in view the invention consists in the improved construction,arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described andafterward specifically claimed.

For a clearer understanding reference will now be had to theaccompanying three sheets of drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, upon which like letters of reference ina platinum mantleand insulated from the frame, and when the apparatus is at rest bearsagainst both the plates to and 10 Fig. 2, connecting the sameconductively. In this position the lever f is retained by two pairs ofsprings f f and j" f The springs f f, belonging to the first pair, abutagainst the opposite sides of the support-plates f, which carry thequicksilver-cups and guide the draw-rod f and act in opposite directionsupon the flanged nuts f the latter. The springs f f which are onlypartly visible in the drawings, act upon the draw-rod f in an analogousmanner. By turning the nuts f and f the lever f is so regulated that initshorizontal position all the pins f to f are lifted out of thequicksilver in their cups. The construction of the apparatus F will showthat two springs alone may retain the apparatus at rest-say the SpringsflO rz n ia f10 fit, flZ f13 The cups h and d are conductively connectedtogether as well as 72, with d. The direction in which the armaturerotates changes with the direction in which the train runs, and f iseither conductively connected with h and f with (1', 0r withh andf with01 Then the leverf has circuit is broken Figures 1 and 2, Sheet I,represent, respectively, a front and side view, partly in section, online to m, Fig. 2, and line y y, Fig. 1, of the automatic commutator F;Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section through the axis of thesolenoids of the switch B. Figs. 4and 4 are respectively a vertical anda horizontal section of the resistance-regulator I, the former throughits axis and the other at line a: m, Fig. 4. Fig. 5, SheetII, shows theworking of the said apparatus when the lamps have been switched in andthe batteries do not require charging. Fig. 6, Sheet III, shows theworking of the aforesaid apparatus when the batteries require chargingwhile the lamps are on.

The construction of the apparatus F, B, and P will be described first,then the working of the system with reference to the diagram on SheetII, and lastly of that with reference to diagram on Sheet III.

Automatic commutator F, Figs. 1 and 2.- This apparatus, Figs. 1 and 2,consists of an electroinagnet f, between the poles of which a perforatedparallel-wound armature f is between 10 and 10 The construction of thecommutator described, compared with the one described in the applicationhereinbefore referred to, has so far attained a reduction of thequicksilvercups-viz., from six to four-as owing to the employment of thecontact devices w w 10 f screwed upon" left its position of rest, the

' tial.

the resistance 'r, the quicksilver-cups k (see patent application,)andthe double-armed lever described in the said patent are dispensed with.The formation of sparks in the cups when switching the resistance r inand out of the exciting-circuit IV is thus obviated and the regulatingresistance is also used when stopping. The new construction differs alsofrom the former in the employment of the regulating-springsf f f f,whereby the apparatus is set at rest and freed from vibrations.

The automatic switch, Fig. 3.The construction of this apparatus beingminutely described in the application hereinbefore referred to, afurther description is not essen- The solenoids employed therein may,however, consist each of only two coils insulated from each other. Forinstance, the left solenoid may have the two coils b and b and the rightsolenoid the coils 6 12 which will not affect the working of theapparatus. When using the apparatus in the system shown by the diagramon Sheet III, the right of the two iron cores c suspended from the lever12, will also have, besides the balanceweight 0 a contact-fork c, whichwhen the apparatus is at rest will form contact between thequicksilver-cups c and break the same when the iron cores 0 are drawnin. The contact-fork, which dips into the cups 0 c, performs always thefunction described in the application hereinbefore referred to.

The resistance-regulator, Figs. .4 and 4.- This apparatus consists of asolenoid having two coils pp and a soft-iron corep therein. The heightat which it is retained is controlled by the action of the coils. Thelower end of the core reaches into a hollow cylinder, which consists ofa number of superposed flat copper rings 19 which are insulated fromeach other by mica disks placed between the same. The disk 19 and themica disks bei of the drawings is furnished with two batteries G4 I beperiodically disconnected, and therefore tween are inclosed in acylindrical casing 19 fixed by two screws 19 to the regulator-frame 19The bottom of this casing has a concentric hole in its periphery 4,symmetrically longitudinal slots p and a cover p screwed in, by whichlatter the disks 19 are pressed tight against each other, so as toconstitute a hollow cylinder. Each of the disks 10 has a tongueprojecting through one of the longitudinal slots p the said disksrelatively to their tongues being successively displaced from each otherninety degrees, the tongue of each fourth disk projecting through thesame slot 19. Each of these tongues has an eye to which is soldered thecable connected with the element of the regulating resistance.

To the upper end of the iron corep is fixed an insulated piston 19 whichslides in a tightlyclosed tube and serves simply to dampen too vigorousmovements of the core 19. At the lower end of the core 19 a contact and.a guide-rodp are arranged, which latter passes'through the casing 19and at its lower by a good contact is obtained between the.

guide-pin p and the respective copper disk 19". The solenoid has twocoils p and 19 insulated from each other, which assist each other intheir action upon the core. The coil p consists of thin wire and thecoil 19' of comparatively stronger wire.

The construction of this regulator compared with that described in theapplication hereinbefore referred to embodies thus someimprovements,whiel1 consist in the employment of only two insulatedcoilspp and in the improved construction of the contact device, wherebysparks which may occur are not only dispersed over a long linecorresponding with the periphery of the carbon segments 10 19 but arealso blown out by the magnetic field of the core 19.

Working of the system shown Sheet II I,

Fig. 5.This system is applicable to trains which have during the daysufficient time at disposal for charging the batteries, no furthercharging thus taking place when the lamps are switched in. Beforedealing with the working itself a few remarks are necessary.

The switch T is situated in the car in which V are employed theapparatus F B P N with the resistances S, S S R, and v and the dyname A.Each car is provided with a batt-ery G G G3 G G, a switch E E E and a Igroup of incandescentlamps g g 9 9 K indicates the cable-couplingsemployed between the carriages. The last car on the right side as it ispresumed that this carriage will requires battery of greater capacity.The switch T' employed in the generator-carriage 1 servesforchargingandlighting. In the drawings its lever is shown in the lightis on. r i contact-plates t i i t t and the contact-lever I t. in thedrawings connects the two plates tand the position when The switch'Tconsists of the The latter when in the position as shown 6 Theincandescentlamps g in the generatorcarriage are thus switched on. Ifthe contact-lever t is turned in the direction of a watch-hand a quarterof a revolution, it will arrive in the position for charging. The lampsg are thus switched off and the lever 27 connects the plates 25 t i F.If the contactlevert is turned in the same direction further, it willagain connect the plate 25'' with i, and the lamps 9 will come intofunction, 850. When the train stops, a weak current from the batteries GG G arranged in parallel,

will circulate in the main circuit II through the magnet-coil f of theautomatic commutator F, the right bobbin n of the relay N, and throughthe inner coil 12 of the automatic switch 13 back to the main circuit I.In the same manner a weak current flows through the high-resistance coil19 of the dynamo-regulator P and the contacts 10 w w. This causes theiron core 19 of the regulator P to be raised and the resistance R to beswitched into the exciting-circuit IV of the dynamo A, whereby the lossin the excitation is also reduced to a minimum. The switch E serves toprevent unnecessary consumption of energy in case the system is not usedfor days. After having arranged the train the resistances S and S areregulated by means of the contact-levers s .9 so as to correspondapproximately to the number of lamps and batteries. The position ofthese levers need not be varied afterward.

The charging takes place as follows: The lever i of the switch T fromthe position shown has been turned ninety degrees and the contact-plates t t if t are connected with each other. The switches E E E areopen. As soon as the train, and thereby the armature a of the dynamo A,is set in motion there will be a tension at the brushes of the dynamocorresponding to the number of revolutions and to the intensity of theexcitingcircuit. The current flows through the armature-coil f of thecommutator F, which causes the lever f to be turned to one or the otherside, according to the direction of the train, which determines thedirection of the current. \Vhen turning the lever f the contact-roller10 leaves the plates w 10 belong ing thereto, which causes theresistance 1) to be switched into the circuit of the coil 19 of theregulator P. The eifect of the coil 19 on the iron core 19 being therebyconsiderably weakened, the iron core 19 will descend and switch oif allthe elements of the regulatingresistance R, so-that the exciting-coil ais exposed to the full tension of the battery. After the commutator Fbegins to act the middle coil 1) of the automatic switch B will receivecurrent. If the train has attained a certain minimum speed, the tensionof the dynamo will slightly exceed that of the batteries and theapparatus B will switch the dynamo in the circuit of the batteries. Ifthe speed of the train increases, the intensity of the current deliveredto the batteries will also increase to a maximum degree, and thiscurrent flowing through the thick outer coil 1) of the apparatus Bcauses, obviously, the contact-fork c to be retained in the switching-onposition all the more. After leaving the coil 1) the dynamo-currentbranches off in three currents, which join again in the main circuit 1.The first branch is formed by the resistance S the second by theresistance S, and the third by the coil 17. The resistance S isshort-circuited through circuit III I. The current circulating throughthese branches are, according to Ki rchofif, proportionate to thetension, and vice versa proportionate to the resistances. The regulatorP is now adjusted so as to switch the largest part of theregulating-1'esistance B into the exciting-circuit IV, when the currentflowing through the coil p amounts toi amperes and when thecharging-current in the main circuit I II has reached its maximaltension. The maximumloss of tension in the three branches, amounting to2 volts, the currents in the three branches will be determined by theirresistances. The strength of current delivered to the batteries is equalto the sum of the currents in all three branches. By the aid of thevariable resistance S it is possible to vary the strength of thecharging-current as may be desired without affecting the nature of thisregulation, and thus the train may be composed of any desired number ofcarriages. \Vhen switching the dynamo onto the batteries, thiscombination also serves for checking the shocks which may occur in thecurrrent, and thus weakening the efiect of the same on the dynamo-i. 6.,the wheels. When the tension of the charging-current in the maincircuits I II has reached its maximum, the armature n of the relay N isattracted and, owing to the force of the coil M, will overcome thecounter power of the spring n lVhen the contact-spring n of the armaturetouches the contact-pin 71 the resistance of the coils n is switched inparallel to the resistance o. The power of attraction of the inner coil19 of the regulator P is thus increased, the iron core 19 is raised to arelative higher position, which causes the excitingcircuit of the dynamoto be weakened, the tension will fall to about 2.2 to 2.4 volt perelement of the battery, which causes the charging-current to be reducedto zero. The regulator P then acts as a tension-regulator and retainsthe tension at a limit of 2.2 to 2.4 volts, so as to prevent any furthercharging of the batteries.

The operating of the relay N is minutely described in the patentapplication filed 19th of April, 1898, hereinbefore referred to.

Occurrences during the t'Z-Zuminaiion. When the lamps areliglited,allthe switches E E E are inserted and the switchT is in the position shownin the drawings. When the train has stopped, the batteries cover therequirements of the lamps. When the train starts, the dynamo isconnected with the main circuit in an analogous manner as during thecharging and the apparatus take over their functions already described.Owing to the altered position of the lever t the former circuits of theresistance S the outer coil 13 of the regulator P, and the contact n ofthe relay N are interrupted and the contact-resistance S is switched inseries with the coil 19 of the regulator P. The loss in the coils 9,additional to the loss in the resistance S during the flow of a currentof t' amperes, is equal to the difference between the maximum chargetension of the batteries and the normal tension of the lamps. If Jindicate the strength of current required for supplying all the lamps,the strength of current divided through the resistance S=Jz', providedthat the volts at the terminals of the dynamo are equal to the maximumcharge tension of the batteries. The resistance S expressed in ohms musttherefore be equal to the (Maximum charge tension normal lamps tension)J-i If the strength of current passing through the resistance Sdecreases owing to the decrease of the volts at the dynamo-terminals,the batteries will deliver a part current to the lamps, so that thetension of the lamps will practically remain constant. The batteriesbeing very little used during the journey, the tension will varymaximally 2.5 per cent. be low or over the normal lamp tension. Thelimes will be very seldom reached.

The working of the system shown on Sheet III, Fig. 6.This system isspecially applicable to trains which run only at night. In this case thebatteries are charged simultaneously with the supply of the lamps directfrom the dynamo. Before proceeding with the working of the system itselfattention is drawn to the following points: In this system three maincircuits are employed I I II, which pass through all the carriages.While employing in the system shown on Sheet II each carriage with anordinary switch, in the system shown on Sheet III each carriage isfurnished with a switch U U U through which the batteries are partlyconnected with the circuit 1 and partly with I", the lamps in themeantime being switched on or off. The switch U consists of a cast-ironcasing in which are employed the contactplates u a a a u". Through thecover of the said casing passes a shaft on which are secured theinsulated contact-springs U7 a This shaft and that of the switch U U Uare always'turned ninety degrees. Springs are employed to insure thecorrect setting of the said shaft and the contact-spring. The saidshafts turn always in the direction of a watch-hand and are preventedfrom turning back by click devices. The covers are each formed with around opening, below which a disk is secured upon the said shaft,havinga half White and a half red face. When the cables in the train areconnected with each other, the switches U U U U must be in such aposition that the red part and white part of the disk will bealternately visible in the adjacent carriages to indicate the oppositeposition of the contact-springs u When light is required, thecontact-springs a a of the switches U U U U may be in the position shownin the diagram on Sheet III. If the lamps require switching on, theswitch is turned ninety degrees. If the lamps require current, a furtherturn of ninety degrees, &c. takes place, the guard is thus alwaysgradually obliged to set the said switches, as required. Each carriageis thus equally installed. The installation of the carriage whichcontains two batteries is, however, slightly Varied, one battery beingconnected with the circuit I and the other with the circuit 1*, and viceversa. The switch U has besides the contact-plates u 11, u a the platea), and upon the shaft are employed three from each other insulatedcontact-springs a7 a u", whereby the switching of the batteriesdescribed is eifected.

The functions of the automatic apparatus F B P are identical with thosealready described. A repetition of the occurrences-during thecharge-'t'. e., at day-timeappears, therefore, unnecessary, so that theworking of the installation has only to be taken into consideration whensimultaneously lighting the lamps and charging. When the lamps U U U Uconnect the contact-plates a with 11. and when the train stops a contactbetween the main circuits I and I, is also formed through the apparatusB by inserting the small resistance 8 n by means of the rightcontact-fork c and the quicksilver-cups 0 All the batteries G G G (lthus operate in feeding the lamps g g 9 9 g when the train stops. Whenthe train starts, the connec tion of the dynamo with the main circuit iseifected as previously described, with exception of the apparatus B,which breaks contact at the cups 0 when connecting the dynamo with thelamps and batteries. The circuit of I may be specified as charge-circuitand I as light circuit. The main circuit from the dynamo splits from thecable III into three branches, one of which currents flows over the coil19 of the regulator P and the constant resistance S to the light-circuitI", the second one over S s n, also to I", while the third one flowsover S to I The resistance S S and the resistance of the coil 19 aredetermined after the previously-described method. The regulator thusregulates, due to the branch currents p to S prin- 1 cipally the amountof current flowing to the lamps g g g 9 the tension of the dynamo beingallowed to reach the maximum charge tension of the batteries. Thecurrent delivered to the batteries G G G ready for charg ing depends,then, on the resistance S? and on the condition of the charge in thebatteries Gr G g As soon as the lamps require ex tinguishing thecontact-springs of the said switches are turned ninety degrees. In orderto obtain light the next night, the contact-springs of the switches areturned ninety degrees. In this position the batteries G G G are switchedonto the light-circuit 1 for the purpose of regulating the lamp-tension,which has practically remained the same, while the batteries G G areswitched onto the charge-circuit I Having now'particularly described andas certained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the sameis to be performed, I declare that what I claim is are on, thecontact-springs u" of the switches Ito trains, the combination with adynamo, sec-- ondary batteries, and theircircuits of a lampcircuitcontaining incandescentlamps, a magnet the helix of which is in thelamp-circuit, an armature adapted to rotate between the poles of saidmagnet, a double-armed lever coupled to the armature, draw-rods hingedto said lever, contact-pins borne upon said draw-rods and a cupcontaining quicksilver into which the contact-pins may dip, and anautomatic switch mechanism embodying two solenoids, each consisting oftwo coils insulated from one another and soft-iron cores adapted toreciprocate in said solenoids, one of said cores carrying abalance-weight and the other a contact-fork, and cups containingquicksilver into which said fork is adapted to dip to make the circuit.

3. In a system for electrically lighting trains, the combination with adynamo, secondary batteries, and their circuits, of a lampcircuitcontaining incandescent lamps, a magnet the helix of which is in thelamp-circuit, an armature adapted to rotate between the poles of saidmagnet, a double-armed lever coupled to the armature, draw-rods hingedto said lever, contact-pins borne upon said draw-rods and a cupcontaining quicksilver into which the contact-pins may dip, automaticswitch mechanism, and a resistanceregulating device, substantially asspecified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 11th day ofFebruary, 1899, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EMIL DICK.

lVitiiesses:

FRIEDRICH BINDER, ALvEs'ro S. HOGUE.

